Favorite Romance Authors and Titles

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Nimyth

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I am learning all sorts of new things about the romance genre, I obviously have been reading the wrong books! Any suggestions for a newbie romance author to get a 'feel' for the genre.
 

Lil

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What subgenre do you want to write? Contemporary? Historical? Fantasy? Erotica? Inspie?
If you haven't decided, you might get a list of the RWA's RITA finalists for the past few years. That will give you an idea of what other writers admire, at least in more or less mainstream romance.
 

Nimyth

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Sub-Genre

What subgenre do you want to write? Contemporary? Historical? Fantasy? Erotica? Inspie?
If you haven't decided, you might get a list of the RWA's RITA finalists for the past few years. That will give you an idea of what other writers admire, at least in more or less mainstream romance.

My favorite romance genre to read is historical. But what I write is definitely more paranormal- fantasy material.

I had to go back and look through my romance books, I had never even noticed the scene break thing- read right on past them, apparently they were done so well I did not even notice them- as they did not distract my focus from the story in the least.

So I am looking for some good Paranormal/Fantasy/Romance books that will help me get a feel of how they present the POV's of the characters and keep the story line flowing - I head hop :(
 

chompers

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Not sure what POV you're looking to use, but put yourself in the character's shoes. Think of how you would react to things, what you would see, hear, etc. and only "report" on that. Banish anything that wouldn't cross your own brain. But how do we as people know what others are "thinking" since we aren't mindreaders? Their body language. So use either body language or dialogue to show the other characters' side of things.

Hope this makes sense. I am not feeling well and my brain is a bit foggy so I may have come across as rambling.

My favorite romance genre to read is historical. But what I write is definitely more paranormal- fantasy material.

I had to go back and look through my romance books, I had never even noticed the scene break thing- read right on past them, apparently they were done so well I did not even notice them- as they did not distract my focus from the story in the least.

So I am looking for some good Paranormal/Fantasy/Romance books that will help me get a feel of how they present the POV's of the characters and keep the story line flowing - I head hop :(
 
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MsLaylaCakes

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My favorite paranormal author is Nalini Singh. Just a note on POV--she doesn't mark POV shifts. It's not distracting because she's an insanely good writer, but a lot of submission calls for romance require POV shifts to be marked with either * or a line break. My rule of thumb is 1 POV shift per character per scene at the maximum (I usually go through an entire scene without shifting POVs)

For hotter stuff, Kresley Cole is really good as well :)
 

Nimyth

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Very Helpful

Not sure what POV you're But how do we as people know what others are "thinking" since we aren't mindreaders? Their body language. So use either body language or dialogue to show the other characters' side of things.
:yesway:
Hope this makes sense. I am not feeling well and my brain is a bit foggy so I may have come across as rambling.
Thank you- I hope you are feeling better today :)
 

LJD

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I read mostly contemporary and historical, but I like Meljean Brook.
 

Nimyth

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POV

My rule of thumb is 1 POV shift per character per scene at the maximum (I usually go through an entire scene without shifting POVs)

For hotter stuff, Kresley Cole is really good as well :)
Trying to work from a close 3rd person POV, I have a bad habit of switching back and forth for example
Start out in Hero POV
several lines of dialogue between hero and heroine
then I will switch the Heroines "thoughts" about the conversation.
Bad habit, I want the reader to
know what both of them are thinking and feeling, need to learn how to do more showing and less telling. I am searching for some good examples of writers that 'show' both pov in one scene.
 

job

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Trying to work from a close 3rd person POV, I have a bad habit of switching back and forth for example
Start out in Hero POV
several lines of dialogue between hero and heroine
then I will switch the Heroines "thoughts" about the conversation.
Bad habit, I want the reader to
know what both of them are thinking and feeling, need to learn how to do more showing and less telling. I am searching for some good examples of writers that 'show' both pov in one scene.

If you want to change POV more than once in a scene you will find relatively few folks are doing this. When we get up to five, six, or seven times handing POV back and forth, it is seen as poorly controlled writing.

What you might do is pick up the old Nora Roberts series about the Donovans. Charmed, Enchanted, Beguiled. Go through and mark the POVs in colors so you see when and how she switches.
Nora Roberts is either a head hopper or writing Omniscient Narrator -- take your pick. Her old stories still sell. And I'm sure there are folks out there still doing this.

But another way to see inside the non-POV character's head is to show those feelings in the action, the dialog, the description, and the POV character's perception.

Here's an example of handing POV back and forth, twice, very quickly.

***
He didn’t run into her hard, but she jerked like he’d poked her with a stick. He felt shock in her muscles. Her whole body went stiff, ready to fight or run. He stepped back, quick-like, but tension kept right on drumming in the air around her. “Sorry.”

“It is nothing.” She knew her answer was too stiff, too cold. It betrayed her.

She didn’t much like men. There had been too much pain in her life that came from men hurting her. Hawker would have figured this out about her.

It didn't matter. No. None of that mattered to her. She said, “Ahead, there is better light. Perhaps you will refrain from stumbling over me until we get there.”


He followed her up the tower stairs, counting them because it was better than thinking about that damned girl. Why he was wasting his time with her ....
***

And here I mark the places in that passage above where we do that doublequicktimefast POV change.


****
[MMC] He didn’t run into her hard, but she jerked like he’d poked her with a stick. He felt shock in her muscles. Her whole body went stiff, ready to fight or run. He stepped back, quick-like, but tension kept right on drumming in the air around her. “Sorry.”

[FMC] “It is nothing.” She knew her answer was too stiff, too cold. It betrayed her.

She didn’t much like men. There had been too much pain in her life that came from men hurting her. Hawker would have figured this out about her.

It didn't matter. No. None of that mattered to her. She said, “Ahead, there is better light. Perhaps you will refrain from stumbling over me until we get there.”


[MMC] He followed her up the tower stairs, counting them because it was better than thinking about that damned girl. Why he was wasting his time with her ....
***

But we don't have to change POV. We can convey the FMC's attitudes without moving into her head. Here, we stay the whole time in the MMC's head.

***
He didn’t run into her hard, but she jerked like he’d poked her with a stick. He felt shock in her muscles. Her whole body went stiff, ready to fight or run. He stepped back, quick-like, but tension kept right on drumming in the air around her. “Sorry.”

“It is nothing.” A stiff little answer, in a tight voice that barely escaped her throat.

She didn’t much like men. He’d seen that the first time he laid eyes on her. Seen all the signs that said some man, sometime, had done a right professional job of hurting her. Where he came from, he’d known a lot of women like that.

She said, “Ahead, there is better light. Perhaps you will refrain from stumbling over me until we get there.”
***

We remain in the MMC's POV the whole time, but we also know what the FMC is thinking. We know her attitudes and thoughts because of the way she acts and speaks and because our MMC POV character keeps up a running internal commentary of what's going on inside the FMC's head and why.
 
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Nimyth

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We remain in the MMC's POV the whole time, but we also know what the FMC is thinking. We know her attitudes and thoughts because of the way she acts and speaks and because our MMC POV character keeps up a running internal commentary of what's going on inside the FMC's head and why.

Yes that is it that is what I want to learn to do. I want to be able to 'show' both characters feelings but without switching POV. Any good examples of romance authors who do that effectively would be helpful.

The romance novels I have on hand to look through all seem to pretty much stay within the POV of the heroine throughout the entire book, and they do not really provide much insight to the other characters. So the authors are not effectively 'showing me' what the other characters are feeling.

My natural inclination is to write in the omni voice, but I am trying to learn to write to the market. The market wants limited POV, so I am trying to stay away from the omni voice.

I will write the scene in the omni voice then I go back and re-write the scene from the limited POV of the main character in the scene. I feel like it would be useful to me if I read a couple of romance authors that effectively 'show' the feelings of several characters in a scene.
 

job

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The romance novels I have on hand to look through all seem to pretty much stay within the POV of the heroine throughout the entire book, and they do not really provide much insight to the other characters.

Having a POV character show the reader what another character is thinking and feeling is just basic good writing. If the POV characters in the books you've collected do not accomplish this, you probably need to gather yourself up a better set of books. They don't have to be Romance books. As I say, this is standard writing technique.

The POV character John cannot reveal Maryanne's actual thoughts, but he can convey the gist of them.

****
Maryanne thought, I'm afraid of Uncle Mathew tonight. He's drinking too much.
versus
John set the decanter further away from Uncle Mathew. He was drinking too much. Didn't he realize he was scaring Maryanne?
***
Maryanne sighed. I wish I was playing soccer.
versus
John noticed Maryanne's eyes straying again and again to the soccer fields outside, a wistful expression on her face

*****
Maryanne was terrified. She didn't want anyone to know.
versus
John couldn't help but see the bitten lip, the faint sheen of perspiration, the rapid breathing. Something had scared Maryanne and she didn't want anyone to know.
****
Maryanne added the numbers rapidly. The train would arrive just after midnight. She'd have to sneak out of the house by 8:15
versus
Maryanne said, "The train should arrive just after midnight. I'll have to sneak out of the house by 8:15."
****
Maryanne was torn between two men, but she knew she loved David more than John.
versus
Maryanne's eyes dropped modestly, but John knew she was darting glances at David. That blush wasn't for him. It was for the damned Welshman.
 

romanceauthor22

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New fave author

One of my newest favourite romance authors is Lisa Desrochers. She has a great series out now, the best of which is coming out Jan 21 titled A Little Too Hot. I didn't think any of her other books in the series would top A Little Too Far but this one did. She's now on my must-buy author list.

Oh, she writes new adult romance. I think she also writes some sort of paranormal but I don't read that genre.
 

Namatu

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I recently discovered Kristen Callihan's books. Her Darkest London series is both historical and paranormal.
 

Ken

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Tristan and Iseult is a beautiful story, but it's medieval tragedy, not genre romance.

Neat to know. Now I can seek out similar stories. Cool that you like the story too :)

Definitely one of my favorite. I read it about six or seven times, to the point where I nearly had it memorized. Totally captivated.

Shameful to be sure.
 

tatygirl90

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If you like historicals then I recommend Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, Elizabeth Hoyt, Lisa Kleypas's historicals, and Kieran Krammer. I have read more than at least two books from these authors and I always come back for more.
 

RedRose

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Lisa Kleypas's Dreaming of You was awesome.
 

NateSean

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Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series got me into the romance genre. I do read the sex scenes the first time around, but on the second read I tend to gloss over them.

Her first novel is Fantasy Lover and if you haven't read it you need to do yourself a favor and get thee to the bookstore.

The reason I enjoy her books is because you see both sides of the story. The relationships build over time and even in her shorter works, you see the perspectives of both the man and the woman. She even broadens the scopes at time to show us the inner thoughts of other main characters.

Fantasy Lover is a tear jerker in parts and you don't need to have followed the series to understand all that's going on as the book was original written as a one time deal before Kenyon received the contract to write three books. The Dark-Hunter series is tightly woven and you can read any book out of order without being totally lost, but your best bet is to move on from Fantasy Lover into Night Pleasures, which is where the DH series truly begins.

Night Embrace continues the story, but it also introduces many character arcs as well as foreshadowing that will make reading the later books feel like a bigger pay off.
 
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Celeste Carrara

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My favorite genre is paranormal romance! My favorite authors are:
Kresley Cole (Immortals After Dark)
Gena Showalter (Lords of the Underworld)
J R Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood)
Larissa Ione (Demonica)
 
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